The Big Three of tennis may be admired world over, but somedays, their immense talent is blamed for setting unrealistic standards in the sport.
Former World No. 3 Milos Raonic after losing 6-3, 6-3 to Mackenzie McDonald in the third round of the Canadian Open, was asked if the level of men's tennis is better as compared to a few years ago given that a lot of top seeds are being stunned by players outside the top 50.
The 32-year-old countered, saying that Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic 'messed with everybody's expectations'.
'I think just three guys, to have three exemplary kind of legendary athletes in one sport, not even in one generation, period, but in one sport at the same time, you kind of messed with everybody's expectation (or recalibration) of what is normal, right? If you look back at a lot of tournaments, yeah, you would have the three of them playing,' Raonic opined.
He stated that apart from the Big Three and Andy Murray, rest of the lower-ranked players till 16, would lose regularly so the current phenomenon is nothing new.